Maryanne Dell: Pet eye exams valuable

I know Jitterbug is getting up there. She was, as best anyone could tell, about 5 when I adopted her. That means she'll be 12 sometime this year.

She's always been a bit of a curmudgeon when one of the big dogs runs roughshod over her, ignoring the little dog and plowing over her. She'll growl and sometimes move away. At other times she'll just growl.

But when I took her for her free eye exam through the National Service Dog Eye Exam program, I learned why this might be happening.

Using an instrument that looks like a two-lensed, miniature microscope, he examined the front of her eyes – the lens and cornea.

There's not much left of those parts of Jitter's eyes that works very well.

Fortunately, that degeneration is due not to disease, but to the natural aging process.

I'm glad there's no medication or surgery in Jitter's immediate future, but I'm sad that she's definitely on the downside of her life.

Jitter, like all the dogs that qualify for the free eye exams, is a working dog. She and I are Pet Partners, registered through Pet Partners (formerly Delta Society), an international organization that works to improve and educate about the human-animal bond.

Therapy dogs like Jitterbug visit hospitals, hospices and other facilities, bringing some moments of joy and relaxation to people who are, in one way or another, shut in. The work is invaluable. I've watch nearly comatose people reach out to touch her when she was placed on a bed. A patient whose roommate was enjoying a little Jitter joy looked at me and said, "You know, after meeting her, I'm not as afraid of dogs as I was."

All working dogs – and other animals, including cats, rabbits, horses, donkeys, potbellied pigs and you name it – are eligible for the annual program, run through pet-pharmaceutical company Merial and the American College of Veterinary Ophthalmologists.

Eye Care for Animals, a national group with an office in Tustin, provides the exams through its board-certified doctors, like Brinkis.

In a dark room, Brinkis looked at Jitter's eyes using several instruments, while a registered veterinary technician held her steady.

The exams check for many things: cataracts, redness, squinting, cloudy corneas, retinal disease and other serious problems that can affect an animal's eye health.

It's true that dogs don't use their eyes like humans do. While we rely heavily on our sight to help us navigate the world, dogs use their noses and ears a lot to understand the world around them. But, while they can live much happier lives without sight than most humans could, they still need those eyes.

Sight-assistance animals couldn't help their blind companions get around without good eyesight, could they? A guide dog (or horse; yes, miniature horses make great sight aides) is taught to constantly scan the environment for potential hazards. For example, an animal will stand in front of a sightless person trying to cross a busy street with traffic whizzing by, blocking the human's misguided progress.

Health is as important to our animals as it is to us. Part of our responsibility as pet owners or members of a working-dog team is to ensure that our companions are in the best shape possible.

This program assists us in that goal. Since it began in 2008, the program has provided free exams to more than 10,500 animals, according to the ophthalmology college. Eye Care's ophthalmologists provide their time and expertise for free.

"We all (the four board-certified vets at Eye Care's Tustin office) do the exams," Brinkis told me. It's a win-win, helping pet companions and their general-practice vets get baseline info on our animals' eye health and letting the doctors help.

Yes, Jitter is getting older. "How sure are you that she's 12?" Brinkis asked me, adding that it's possible she could be 13 or 14.

We rarely know the exact ages of our rescue pets, coming from uncertain backgrounds as they do. But we know, with absolute certainty, that we love them and want to keep them as safe from discomfort and illness as possible.

Jitter is one of the loves of my life, and I'll do whatever I need to do to keep her comfortable. She has given six years to helping others through therapy work, and she continues to visit the occasional individual patient. How can I not pay her back for the gifts she's given?